OK Rep. James Lankford Claims He Was Ambushed On Gay Protections

Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford is
claiming he was ambushed by progressive blog ThinkProgress.com over
the issue of gay workplace protections.

On Monday, ThinkProgress.com
posted a short clip of Lankford saying that the being gay “is a
choice issue” under a headline that suggested he believes it should
be legal to fire someone for being gay.

When asked if he supports a law that
says “you can't fire someone for their sexual orientation –
similar to protections for people on race or gender?” Lankford
answered: “Well, you're now dealing with behavior and I'm trying to
figure out exactly what you're trying to mean by that. Because
you're dealing with – race and sexual preferences are two different
things. One is a behavior-related and preference-related and one is
something inherently – skin color, something obvious, that kind of
stuff. You don't walk up to someone on the street and look at them
and say, 'Gay or straight?'”

“But you think that even if you can't
see they're that way, you don't think someone is born gay
necessarily?”

“Do I personally? No, I don't. I
think it's a choice issue. Are tendencies and such? Yes, but I
think it's a choice issue.”

In a interview with Oklahoma News 6,
Lankford said ThinkProgress misrepresented him, accusing the blog of
“spinning” his remarks to fit their agenda.

“I didn't say that there should be
some sort of preferences or non-preferences under the headline from
the liberal blog as I think people should be fired for being gay,
which I think is absurd. But they spun it in that direction. The
question they asked me was do I think they should have some special
protections on that and I said, 'Are you asking about a specific
piece of legislation?' And they said, 'No, just in general.'”

“This is what they call an ambush
interview. … I didn't even talk about that.”

“I do believe that homosexuality is a
choice,” he added. “And they're pretty furious about that. This
is part of the whole redefinition of marriage initiative that the
president is currently undertaking to redefine what is marriage. …
And I just happen to believe that marriage is between a man and
woman.”

Lankford added that he believes he was
targeted because he's a Christian.